BOTRY'CIIIUM, a genus of Ferns belonging to the sub-order the tribe Ophioglossem of that family. It halt distinct them disposed in a compound spike attached to a pinnate or bipinnate frond. There is only one species a native of Great Britain, the B. Lunario, Common Moonwort. It has a solitary pinnate frond, with notched or crenate, Innate or fan-shaped piume. This is not a very conspieuons fern, but has been observed in almost every part of Great Britain. It grows on dry open heaths, elevated pastures, and waste lands which are generally shunned by other species of ferns.
In former times the ferns had a great reputation in medicine, not so much on account of their obvious as their supposed virtues. Tho hmate-shape of the pinme of this fern gave it its common name, and was the origin of much of the superstitious veneration with which it was regarded. When used it gathered by the light of the moon. Gerardo says :—" It in singular to heal green and fresh wounds. It bath been used among the alehymists and witches to do wonders withal], who say that it will loose locks and make them to fall from the feet of horses that grams where it Both grow, and bath been called of them Martagon, whereas in truth they are all but drowsy dreams and illusions ; but it is singular for wounds a9 aforesaid." Its healing powers are now however as much disregarded as its magical ones.
B. rirginicum, the Rattlesnake Fern, is a native of North America, and is the largest of the species. It is called Rattlesnake Fern from the fact of its growing in places where this venomous reptile is usually found. Tho other species of Betryduiur are mostly natives of North America. (Loudon, Encycloprdia of Plants; Newman, History of British Ferns).
BOT1tYLLID2E, a tribe of Tunicated Mollusca, of which the genus Botryllus is the type. The species are not uncommon on the coasts of Britain. They form translucent jelly-like masses of various hues, sometimes uniform in tint and sometimes beautifully variegated, and are found encrusting the surface of rocks or attached to the fronds of some of the large sea-weeds that grow at the bottom of the sea, or not unfrequently attached to the other forms of Mollusca. On examining
one of these gelatinous masses closely they present the appearance of stars, having a central point and numerous radii. Unless examined closely they present little signs of life, but when a magnifying power is applied currents of water are seen passing to and from small apertures with which, the surface is covered. Savigny, the illustrious French naturalist, was the first observer who apprehended the nature of these curious beings, and gave an account of their structure in his celebrated 'M6moires cur les Animaux sans Vertares.' Before his time the Botryllidm had been confounded with the Polyp's, and regarded as analogous to ,Akyonium The earliest figures of them are to be found in the ' Philosophical Transactions' for 1757 by Schlosser, who was a correspondent and friend of John Ellis. The latest researches upon these creatures are those of Milne-Edwards in 1839, who in a paper read before the Institute of France fully confirmed the correctness of Savigny's views. The animals of this tribe have been divided into several genera, of which the following are British :— dtplidium, Say. Gelatinous or cartilaginous, with no central cavity, but a distinct circumscription. Animals 3 to 25 in number, in a single row, at equal distances from the centre of their common axis. Three species are given by Forbea and Hanley in the ' British Molluaca,' but with the statement that they require "careful re examination." These are A. Ficus, Linn.; A. falla.r, Johnston ; A. ldas*, Johnston.
Sitlnyuni, Say. The mass presents the appearance of a number of heads of Madrepore or Cladocora, each formed of a simple cone trun cated and starred at the summit, rising from a common encrusting base, the whole being grouped closely together. There is but one species, S. turbinatum, which occurs abundantly on the north coast of the Isle of Man and other parts of the British Islands.